Developing Information Literacy Competencies in Your Students

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Developing Information Literacy Competencies in
Your Students

• Cara Bradley
• cara.bradley_at_uregina.ca
• Charles Phelps
• Charles.phelps_at_uregina.ca
• Archer Library
• University of Regina

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Would you like your students to . . .

• Become critical thinkers?
• Develop more efficient information-seeking and
  retrieval habits?
• Evaluate information systematically?
• Learn how to help themselves learn?
• Graduate as enthusiastic, capable, life-long
  learners?

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Information literacy (Librarians)Research
education (Professors)

• Information literacy (or information competency)
  is a set of abilities requiring individuals to
  recognize when information is needed and have
  the ability to locate, evaluate, and use
  effectively the needed information.
• Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong
  learning. It is common to all disciplines, all
  learning environments, and to all levels of
  education.

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Information literacy vs. information technology
skills
Information literacy . . . is an intellectual
framework for understanding, finding, evaluating,
and using information . . . it initiates,
sustains, and extends lifelong learning through
abilities which may use technologies but are
ultimately independent of them.
-
ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards
for Higher Education
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Standards

• The Association of College and Research Libraries
  (ACRL) has identified Information Literacy
  Competency Standards for Higher Education to
  help librarians and instructors identify and
  address key needs
• http//www.ala.org/acrl/ilcomstan.html

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Issue 1Size and Scope

• There is no correlation between the topic the
  student chooses and a) the length of the
  assignment and b) the size/scope of research
  available on the topic.
• i.e. I want to write a 5 page paper about Ancient
  Greece.

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Standard 1 The student determines the nature
and extent of the information needed.

• II student
• types entire thesis statement into Google
• cant differentiate between search engine
  results and database/catalog results (scholarly
  sources)
• far too many or far too few citationsunable to
  match information need with scope of project at
  hand

• IL student
• brainstorms for key terms
• identifies appropriate types of resources
• understands instructors requirements for sources

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Issue 2Volume of information

• A weekday edition of the New York Times contains
  more information than the average person was
  likely to come across in a life-time in
  seventeenth-century England. (Richard Saul
  Wurman, Information Anxiety (1989))
• - By 2020 the available body of information
  will double every 73 days. (Patricia Senn
  Breivik, Student Learning in the Information Age
  (1998))
• - Half of the pages on the World Wide Web
  disappear every month, and yet the Web continues
  to double in size every year. (Kelly Russell,
  Libraries and Digital Preservation Who Is
  Providing Electronic Access for Tomorrow? (pp.
  1-30) in Charles F. Thomas, ed., Libraries, the
  Internet, and Scholarship Tools and Trends
  Converging (2002))

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Standard 2 The student accesses needed
information effectively and efficiently.

• II student
• jumps around library web site (and only if
  unsuccessful with Google search)
• prints first five full-text sources without
  evaluation
• will not consult print sources

• IL student
• asks for assistance if unsure about
  appropriateness of a resource
• understands how to apply general search
  techniques to a range of resources
• refines search if results not adequate

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Issue 3Evaluating Information

• 83 of Internet sites contain commercial
  information / 6 contain scientific or
  educational content
• 3 of web content is Canadian
• OCLC Web Characterization Project
• Accessibility and Distribution of Information on
  the Web (Nature, 1999)
• Most extensive examples of quality evaluation are
  on health sites

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Standard 3 The student evaluates information
critically and incorporates selected information
into their knowledge base and value system

• II student
• writes paper without understanding or forming
  opinion about the material collected
• might speak to instructor if having
  difficulties in hopes of being told which
  resources to use

• IL student
• critically reviews information collected
• thinks of new avenues to pursue if additional
  information is required
• thinks about how information relates to
  self/assignment/class

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Issue 4Using information effectively

• Unlike books, which must be read, understood,
  and synthesized, the Web too often consists of
  beautiful graphics and short summaries. When
  strung together to form a research paper, these
  summaries are bound to appear fragmented and
  superficial, more of a random montage than a
  sustainable argument.
• David Rothenberg, How the Web Destroys the
  Quality of Students Research Papers, Chronicle
  of Higher Education (August 15, 1997) A44.

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Standard 4 The student uses information
effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.

• II student
• turns in first draft
• ultimately finds the whole assignment
  frustrating

• IL student
• makes an outline
• proof-reads and seeks peer-review, input
• learns something from the process/topic

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Issue 5Ethical and legal use of information

• 53 of university undergrads surveyed said that
  they had cheated in ways that range from "copying
  a few sentences from the Internet without
  footnotes, to turning in a paper that someone
  else wrote. And this is only those who admitted
  it!
• Christensen-Hughes, J. M., McCabe, D. L.
  (2006). Academic misconduct within higher
  education in Canada. The Canadian Journal of
  Higher Education, 36(2), 1-21.

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Standard 5 The student understands many of the
issues surrounding the use of and access to
information and does so legally and ethically

• II student
• plagiarizes without realizing it
• fabricates source information because original
  sources are lost
• incorrect/incomplete citations

• IL student
• keeps track of located information
• correctly cites sources
• obtains permission for materials when needed

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• Do you think that students have adequate
  information literacy skills?

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• Most undergraduates come to college having
  mastered only the most basic tools for research.
  They can use a dictionary. They can conduct a
  search in Google that yields results (5 million,
  in fact!). They may even be able to run an online
  search by author or title and then find the book
  on the shelf.
• But thats about itand thats not nearly
  enough.
• Todd Gilman, Show Your Librarian Some Love,
  Chronicle of Higher Education, October 3, 2006

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The literature indicates faculty are increasingly
noticing problems/deficits . . .

• Example
• 419 journalism faculty across the U.S. were asked
  to read the ACRL standards and then asked if
  their students are information literate. Heres
  what they said
• 3.8 --all students meet ACRL information
  literacy criteria
• 42.2--some of their students meet the ACRL
  information literacy criteria
• 23.4--few of their students meet the ACRL
  information literacy criteria
• Singh, A. B. A Report on Faculty Perceptions of
  Students Information Literacy Competencies in
  Journalism and Mass Communication Programs The
  ACEJMC Survey. College Research Libraries v.
  66 no. 4 (July 2005) p. 294-310

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What are some signs that your students are
lacking information literacy skills?

• Too few/too many items on bibliography
• Irrelevant items on bibliography
• Choose only items that have words from the topic
  in their title
• Include only items available online
• Do not include items from peer-reviewed journal
  literature
• Do a testconduct a basic keyword search in the
  major database and see if they have only included
  the first few full-text items
• Plagiarism
• Incorrect or incomplete citations

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Perhaps the U of R Library can help . . .

• U of R Library Vision statement states (in part)
  We will measure our achievements and
  satisfaction by the degree to which we are
  successful in creating independent, effective
  information seekers and users.

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Part 2 Practical Tips for Engendering Students
Information Competency
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Commonly Observed Information Dysfunctionalities
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Procrastination

• Expected problems Not enough time to digest and
  evaluate sources, try different search
  strategies, develop new sources from the first
  group, etc.
• Precludes obtaining materials via Interlibrary
  Loan.
• Precludes placing holds or recalls on
  library-owned materials.

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Students use only what pops up on their computer
screen.

• If its not online, forget it.

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Students think of gathering sources as a quick,
slap-dash effort.

• They view it as just a matter of banging a few
  keywords into their computer and using the first
  items that appear.
• They have no concept of the time and effort
  required for an adequate literature search.

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Students who have grown up in a world of
computers, cellphones, and ATMs expect
information to be immediately available and
presented in a USA Today formatshort and devoid
of detail. Barefoot, Betsy. Bridging the
Chasm First-Year Students and the
Library. Chronicle of Higher Education
20 Jan. 2006 B16.
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Students search ineffectively

• in the wrong databases or only in Google,
• using ineffective keywords (over-specified,
  under-specified, without enough variants, etc.),
• without knowing the syntax of the search
  interface,
• using ineffective search strategies.

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Students choose topics for which few or no
sources can be found.

• Topics are often over-specified.
• Deadly when combined with procrastination.

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Students are baffled by peer-reviewed journal
articles.

• They dont know how to approach articles meant to
  be read by specialists.
• They dont know the difference between review
  articles and articles reporting original research
  (and how to search specifically for review
  articles).

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The instructor forbids using Internet sources

• but students dont realize that online
  peer-reviewed journals and other such materials
  are not Internet sources.

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Students find a reference, but dont know how to
obtain the item.

• Often, they think they must pay to access an item
  that is available to them free.

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Suggested Remedies
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Ask your subject librarian to give a presentation
to the class.

• Each department/faculty has a librarian.
• Students will learn of resources available to
  them and how to use them.
• A librarian can give advice specific to an
  assignment, as well as general advice.
• Students will see the face of the Library, and
  know a contact for help.
• Librarians are happy to do this.

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Explain the information structure of your
discipline.

• For example, the role of books, journal articles,
  conference proceedings, technical reports,
  government reports, preprints, etc.

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Require that students use different search
procedures.For example

• database keyword searches,
• citation searching and related records searching
  (using Web of Science),
• bibliographies in books and articles.

Have students annotate their bibliographies,
telling how they found each source.
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Require different kinds of sources. For example

• At least x number of articles, y number of books,
  z number of other types of sources.
• At least ? number of sources published before
  (say) 1950.

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Require that students submit a preliminary
bibliography long before the assignment is due.
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Before giving an assignment, let the subject
librarian see it.

• The librarian can prepare for student questions.
• Important when specific resources (databases,
  encyclopaedias, etc.) are required (to prevent
  mis-identification, etc.).

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A new tool!

• The U of R Library and the SIAST Library have
  developed an online tutorial to enhance online
  literacy, and help faculty assess and cultivate
  students information literacy.
• Check it out on the library web site!
• Funding for this project is provided by a TEL
  (Technology Enhanced Learning) grant.

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Contact us!

• Email
• IM (Instant Messaging)
• In-person
• Phone

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And finallyEncourage students to use an
under-utilized resourceThe Librarian.